Theo wiped at my brow with a damp cloth, using precious amounts of our water. We could summon rain, I supposed. Or at least, Pisces and Mark could, not me. I was way too sore and sick and tired for that.
“What the freaking hell happened?” I mumbled, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand and accepting the bottle of water Theo handed me.
“Earth used your blood,” he said, sounding not in the least bit pleased about that.
“To free the Gi?” My mind cleared a little of the fog away, but I still had to blink several times to take in Theo’s face before me. A fire was burning, casting shadows across his worn features. Stubble graced his cheeks and jaw; dark marks stood sentinel under his softly glowing golden eyes making him look his age. Or, you know, older than normal. I don’t think anyone can truly look three thousand years old.
“Yes,” he said. “But it did more than free the Gi.”
I tried to look past him, but we were in a small tent, the entrance open to the night sky - hadn’t it been daylight when this all began? - and all I could see was the flickering fire.
“What?” I asked, wanting to get up and see for myself, but well aware I was going nowhere.
“Rest,” Theo urged as if to prove the point. “All is well. They’re going nowhere. In fact, Nico and the others are having to hold them back.”
“From me?” I squeaked. The Gi Rigas was not a happy camper when I saw him last. Having killed his Basilissa, I wasn’t at all surprised by that turn of events. “We always knew facing them would be a challenge,” I offered meekly.
Theo grunted assent.
“Wait a minute!” I suddenly exclaimed. “Why am I not dead?”
Theo scowled, but reached up a hand and brushed the hair off my face with infinite care. Such a contrast to the anger on his face.
“You almost died. It would have drained you completely.” He growled low in the back of his throat. “Why would you let it do that?” he demanded.
I hadn’t expected Earth to drain me dry, but I did know that using my blood would make the Element stronger. And releasing the Gi had needed strength. A lot of it. Perhaps more strength than I had initially thought. But that wasn’t a consideration at all because as far as I had been concerned, this was the end. The sacrifice I had needed to make.
My palm immediately went to my stomach. Theo’s face softened, and his hand covered mine. It was too soon to feel the baby kicking. Was it still there? Had Earth taken that in order to free the Gi? Was that the sacrifice?
A hitched breath of air left me, and then I was wrapped up in Theo’s arms, having been hauled forcefully but carefully across the gap between us to nestle on his lap. His hand smoothed down my hair, he murmured soft reassuring words in Greek in my ear, his heart beat loudly and steadily beneath my cheek; lulling me.
“It’s OK,” he said. Then repeated it. “Everything will be OK.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know I nearly watched you die, but you didn’t. You’re here in my lap, against my heart, warming me. Completing me. I know I would give up anything to keep you alive. To keep this.”
“Even him?” I said, stroking my belly.
“I don’t know him yet.” It was such a simple statement. Maybe men thought differently to women. I loved the child growing in my belly already. I’d sacrifice myself for him in a heartbeat. But would I sacrifice Theo for my child?
I bit my lip and frowned.
“It is out of our hands, Oraia,” Theo said softly. “A choice that, Aetheros willing, we will never have to face.”
“But what if Earth…?”
“Have you asked it?”
I was a little scared to talk to Gi right now.
“How many are out there? How many did we free?”
“Sixty-five.”
“That’s all that’s left of the Gi?”
“Probably all that’s left of the Pyrkagia, as well. We are not numerous in number. The Aeras would outnumber us by a mere fifty. Nero much the same. Their hidden villages made a difference during Genesis. But all our numbers were never large after the branches split.” He shrugged. “Less Thisavros connections. And Aetheros has always been thought to have had a hand in all Athanatos conceptions.”
“Even in his absence?”
“Procreation has been difficult for our kind for quite some time, but there have been Athanatos born since Aetheros left us.”
Another tick in the column for Aetheros being forced to leave and not willingly abandoning his children.
“Any news on The Reckoning?”
“Our Stoicheio do not talk as freely with us as yours do, Cassandra.”
“What about Hip? Has he heard anything in the wind?”
Theo shook his head. No news was good news, I supposed.
“I should face the Gi,” I said, not feeling in the slightest happy about my reception.
“They can wait.”
“That’ll only make them angrier.”
Theo scowled. “So let them become angry.”
“Theo. That’s hardly a diplomatic solution. What about the Rigas? Are you refusing an audience with him?”
“The Rigas is dead, Casey. He did not survive the burying.”
The rot. Genesis had culled it. Was that why so many had died here?
“Your father…?” I started.
“Is alive and kicking. More’s the pity.”
“How do you know?”
“Aktor has contacts in Auckland he has communicated with carefully through Fire. We can’t be one hundred percent certain of the accuracy of the reports, but if my father were dead, we would have heard of more infighting. Without me there to contend the throne, many would covet it.”
I shuddered at the thought of Theo becoming a Rigas like his father. Then cursed myself silently for being such a wimp. Theo would never be like the Pyrkagia Rigas. Not in a million years. Never.
“So, if the Gi Rigas is dead, who is King?”
“They have not elected one. Space to converse underground was at a premium. Elections have had to wait until now.”
“And now?”
“And now they wait until they have an audience with you.”
“Why?” I didn’t like the sound of this.
Theo smiled and brushed hair back off my face again, holding it back so he could get a good look at me. He took his time, taking in every inch of me. Eyes slowly perusing my features as if memorising them.
“You saved them, Oraia. You freed them. You rejuvenated their Stoicheio.”
“Their Stoicheio?”
“Earth was greedy.”
Oh, so that’s what he meant about it doing more than just freeing the Gi.
“So,” I said, drawing out the word into several syllables, “are they still mad at me or not?” I was a little confused. Not surprising, my head still felt like mush, my arm stung like a swarm of bees had attacked it, and every now and then my vision became wavy, while my stomach revolted.
“Mad? Not in the slightest. Much like the Nero, you have won them over, sweet Casey Eden. Much like every Athanatos you ever meet.”
I snorted. Yeah. Like Davos the Gi torturer or Theo’s own father with his mad scientist’s dungeon full of horror things.
“You’ve done it, Casey,” Theo insisted. “You’ve brought Aeras and Nero and Gi together. You’ve done it, Oraia. You’ve united them with one thing.”
“One thing?”
“You. Aether. You are who they look to now.”
I’d done it. Or so Theo said. I still had to talk with the Gi myself to be certain. And there was still Pyrkagia to deal with. Not a pleasant thought at all, even if Auckland would always be home to me. But for now, I’d done it. I’d united three out of four Ekmetalleftis branches. Or at least paved the way for that to be.
“I need to see them,” I said.
“You need food and rest, in that order.”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t ‘I’m fine’ me, Cassandra. You almost died.” His ha
nd went back to my belly. A more effective argument he couldn’t have given.
“Just a few minutes,” I conceded.
“All night,” Theo countered. “And then in the morning, they may see you. But not before you have slept and recovered.”
I nodded my head, unable to fight him physically on this.
Theo fed me some travel rations, then made me drink copious amounts of water. I was so going to need to pee. But when he laid me down, and then laid himself down beside me, all thoughts of toilet breaks in the middle of the night vanished, and my eyes drooped closed as my Thisavros held me.
I dreamt. It wasn’t unpleasant. It wasn’t a dream visit either, but that needed an Awakening before Gramps could try to reach me.
It was filled with light and colour, and thousands and thousands of stars. A vast swathe of them across an inky canvas. So many I couldn’t count. Each one felt so important. So essential to something I couldn’t quite grasp. I wanted to touch them. I wanted to stroke them or bat them, like a cat with a ball of string.
I could do neither. And when I realised they were just out of my reach, loneliness swamped me.
I stood on top of a mountain; it could have been Table Mountain for all I could see, alone under the stars staring up at the heavens. I was cold and shivering. Rubbing my hands up and down my arms uselessly. The chill went deeper than skin. My bones chattered. My body trembled. I opened my mouth and frosty air puffed out, hanging suspended before my lips, dampening the air around me.
I tried to call on Fire, but it was gone.
I tried to call on Water, but even the dampness evaded me.
I tried to call on Air, but suddenly I couldn’t breathe.
I was locked in the void of space. Lonely.
Time seemed infinite here. Endless. Space seemed immeasurable. So many stars, each one unique. Each one important in some grand scheme. And yet I stood alone. Apart from them. Lonely.
I felt a tear roll down my cheek. The vastness of the isolation consuming me. I felt the hole inside me expand. Threatening to swallow me completely. I made a small sound; weak, fragile, more of a whimper, really.
And still the world turned, and the stars twinkled overhead, and nothing touched me, stroked me, played or talked to me.
I was utterly alone.
This is what being alone means, a voice said inside my mind. Sadness wrapped around each syllable.
Aether? I called in reply, uncertain.
Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum.
Why? I asked, wanting to sob for the devastating loneliness I was feeling. Quintessence’s loneliness, I realised.
A true sacrifice must cost something, the Element said.
But why must it be made alone?
A burden shared is not a sacrifice carried by one.
Why can’t it be?
You ask the wrong question, Athanatos.
What question should I ask? Silence met my words. Unending.
And then to prove the empty sensation wrong, Aether said, What do I hold most precious?
What does Aether hold most precious? Or what does Casey Eden hold most precious?
I am Aether.
Theo. My baby. In that order.
A sob did tear out of me then. My arms wrapping around my stomach as if to protect it.
We have waited a long to time to meet you, Athanatos, Aether said. You do not disappoint.
Was it happy to see me so anguished?
Aetheros chose wisely, the Element added, oblivious to my heartache. Your sacrifice will mean much.
No.
When? I managed.
It is time.
Now?
Yes.
I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t prepared enough. I wasn’t ready.
But Aether had spoken and The Reckoning, it seemed, was done. I’d passed some sort of Elemental test, but the prize was losing Theo or my baby. What a choice. I couldn’t make it. I wasn’t ready.
Lighting struck. The ground shook beneath my feet. Thunder rolled overhead. It started raining. Thick, fat drops of Water pouring down from a cloudless heaven. A geyser of flames erupted from the ground, Fire spitting and hissing. Earth groaned and shuddered, a crack appearing not ten feet from where I was standing. The wind picked up; Air tossed sharp twigs and stones toward me. A funnel started to turn, spinning the debris and glowing pieces of flaming rocks all around my frozen body.
I glanced up. I could still see the stars twinkling. Despite the glow of Fire and the fury of Air. Despite the moaning of Earth and falling of Water. I could see Quintessence.
I reached up. I’m not sure why. I couldn’t touch them before, why was I trying? But that’s me. I keep trying. When the odds are stacked against me, I try even harder.
Aetheros demanded a sacrifice. Theo or my baby. Well, he couldn’t have them. Either of them. I would find another way.
“I’m here!” I yelled at the sky, arms outstretched and waiting. “I’m here!”
Come and get me.
The stars shimmered and flared, bright spots of white dancing on a midnight backdrop. So many. My mind couldn’t comprehend the number.
And then they started falling. Shooting stars with long phosphorescent trails.
Straight toward me.
For a spilt-second, I wanted to run. But the twister around me pressed in closer as if expecting that. So, I stood there. Lifted my chin, stared the approaching swarm of stars down, and braced myself; feet shoulder width apart and arms wide open.
They hit with the might of the universe; the power of a burning sun. They hit with the strength of all four Elements combined. I blazed from the inside out, my mouth open, my head back, and then I screamed.
Light burst out of me, straight toward Aetheros, straight out of my open mouth and up towards the heavens. A blazing glow of Elemental power.
Aether’s power.
And, for a moment, I could have sworn I heard my god sing.
Chapter Twenty-Four
More Riddles
The sound of startled exclamations woke me. The low hum of many people drawn together witnessing something amazing. I was cold, I realised. A shiver raced through me. I reached out, still trying to ignore the raised voices and shocked murmurs from outside the tent, and found the pallet we’d been sleeping on empty.
Theo had gone.
I sat bolt upright, feeling a sharp shard of pain shoot down my arm. The bandage was still on, but the light was intermittent. It was still night, but the flickering or flashing of illumination wasn’t from a fire. Too bright. Too white. Not the orange glow of flames.
I rubbed a hand over my face, my eyes on the opening of the tent as it flapped softly. Theo had obviously gone outside, probably because of what was making all the people ooh and ahh. I wondered how long I’d been asleep.
Long enough to have a freaky dream.
I tested my legs and stretched my neck, rolling my shoulders. My vision seemed normal if strangely affected by the flashes of bright light, but the dizziness of earlier had vanished.
Time to meet the Gi as they all seemed to be up and about out there.
I crawled forward and pulled the flap of the tent open, then felt my jaw drop, and my mouth hang open in utter astonishment.
The night sky was raining stars. One after another after another shooting down from the heavens. A kaleidoscope in a brilliant display of bright white flecks on a coal-black background. Like fireworks in a single colour. But bigger. More vast. Encompassing the entire horizon, from one end of the world to the other. There was nowhere where I couldn’t see a shooting star.
I scrambled out of the tent and tipped my head back, a sense of wonder enveloping me. I flung my arms out as if to catch them, but they never made it past the atmosphere. I turned around in a slow circle, trying to watch everything at once. Trying not to miss a single falling star.
So many. Each one unique. Each one special.
I blinked at that thought; it sounded incredibly familiar.
“Aether,” I murmured.
You have Awakened, and the heavens dance for joy.
“I thought it was a dream,” I whispered.
Aether, Aether, Eternal Aether, the Element said.
I recognised those words, too.
Your sword has been sharpened.
But when the shaman had said them, all those months ago, the last line had been, sharpen your sword here. His guidance was meant to hone me, I realised. To sharpen me until I was ready to become Aether. The Aeras seer had not made it easy. But his words had offered comfort as well as fear. In a way, he had prepared me. Had he been a gift from Aetheros? Was Hip another? Pisces?
My friends?
It was hard to wrap my head around it when the heavens ‘danced for joy’ as Quintessence had said. The light show was spectacular. So engrossing that no one had noticed I’d exited my tent. I took the opportunity to look at my group of companions. The four Pyrkagia who had followed me across the world. Sonya and Mark; a human and an Alchemist. The two newest members; an Aeras shaman-in-training and a Nero sea monster.
And then my eyes found the Gi. Sixty-five, Theo had said. There seemed to be more, but maybe it was the surreal moment making them seem bigger in number than they now were. Raggedly dressed, dirt smeared, although some had been cleaning themselves by what looked like a fountain. I smirked. Mark’s or Pisces’ efforts, no doubt. It soothed me, that knowledge. That my friends had helped the lost Gi. That despite everything, despite most of all the split of the branches, Nero had aided the Gi.
I rubbed at my chest, newly touched all over again. My eyes welled with relieved tears. For a moment, I basked in our success. Right here, in what had once been the largest rainforest in the world, all four branches of Ekmetalleftis, a human and an Alchemist, stood in complete harmony. With Quintessence putting on quite the show.
Aether comes. Aether goes. Aether puts on quite the show, the Element said cheerfully.
I laughed. You sure do, I offered. I’m glad you’re here.
I felt it then, Aether’s loneliness. Its utter depth of isolation. Abandonment. Separation.
The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4) Page 23